Rise of the Storyteller
by Light's-Embrace
Summary: Alice has always been good at telling stories, but it something she has not done since she was 13. Now 3 years later at age 16 she has been forced to remember why she stopped writting and telling stories in the first place. Will meeting some of her favorite characters change her mind about telling stories or will fear win and keep Alice silent forever?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Enter the story teller

"So why did I have to come again?" Alice asked her mother as they drove to the hospital.

"I told you the people who were supposed to come entertain the children today canceled."

"Yeah I heard, the first twenty times I asked, but you still haven't told me why I have to go." She said with a sigh.

Her mother was quiet for a little while then started rummaging through her bag. After a few minutes she pulled out an object wrapped in an old scarf. She tossed the object into Alice's lap. Alice picked it up and looked at it curiously. She then started to unwrap it. Once she finished she stared at what she had discovered, and her face turned bright red.

"Where did you find this." She said sounding horrified as she clutched what she was holding to her chest, as she looked around fearing someone would she what she was holding.

"In the closet in the living room in a box..."

"A box that said never to be seen by anyone; ever." Alice interrupted in a pained voice.

"Well you always have been on the melodramatic side of things." Her mother said with a laugh.

"It's not funny." Alice groaned "And I am not melodramatic."

"Look dear it'll be good for the kids, and they really are good stories."

"You read it! Mom that was private." She turned to her mom feeling betrayed.

"I'm sorry, but when they called, and told me what was happening I suddenly remembered all those delightful little stories you used to write, and it hit me; the children would love them to. Oh, I think you should tell them the one about that little wintery boy…"

"Jack Frost?"

"Yes, Jack Frost, I liked that one. I think it was one of my favorites."

"Mom I can't believe you. Why did you have to get my PRIVATE journal? We have plenty of books at the house." She said quietly.

Being around her mother always exhausted Alice. She was a sweet and smart lady, but sometimes she did not think things through. Once she had an idea she ran with it, and generally drug Alice along with her. She looked down at her story journal and smiled slightly as she thought about her mom saying that she liked the stories she wrote. The stories that Alice had never really known how she came up with. They always just popped in her head on nights when the moon was full and bright or when she was walking out in the snow. She would always hurry to her grandfathers when she finished a story because he loved to hear them, but that was a few years ago when she was a kid, and her grandfather was still alive. She was sixteen now and sixteen year olds to not write stories about magical boys with white hair or any other sort of mythical being. Such stories were for old people or little kids who need to be comforted.

"Alice you have always had a knack for comforting people. You seem to know how to take them away from their pain and sadness for a little while; you bring them joy, and speaking as a nurse that does help people to recover faster." Her mother said as she parked in the back lot at the hospital.

"Fine I'll read to the kids, but you're so not off the hook for getting into my stuff."

* * *

Alice had just finished reading to the kids, and was heading back to the nurse's station to find her mom. Just as she reached the end of the hall she felt someone grab her hand. She looked down to see the sweetest set of brown eyes one the face of the cutest little boy she had ever seen in her life.

"I liked your stories." He said happily.

"Thank you I'm glad to hear that." She said quietly.

"Yeah well Jack Frost is awesome." He said excitedly

Alice blinked rapidly for a moment. That was the first time she had ever heard that come out of a kid's mouth before. Winter was her favorite time of year, so she wrote about wintery stuff Santa, Yetis, Jack Frost, and so on. Usually it was Santa or the Yeti the kids liked. Not her though; she had always liked Jack Frost. After all he was the one who brought winter to her. It seemed that this kid agreed with her.

"Yeah I think so to." She told him.

"That's so cool. You know how you came up with those stories and all." He continued on excitedly.

Alice watched the kid as he rambled on and on about how much he loved the snow and all the fun times he and his friends had together. For a kid in a hospital he didn't act very sick. He wasn't wearing a hospital gown either.

"Why are you here you don't look very sick to me." Alice said after the kid had slowed down to take a breath.

"Oh, I'm not sick. My little sister fell and hurt her ankle, so my mom brought her to see a doctor. I was waiting outside the room, and I heard you telling the other kids a story. It sounded really interesting, and then a nurse said I could go listen to it while they took my sister to get an x-ray, so I did." He said rapidly.

"Jamie, they said your sister was fine. We're going home now."

"Okay Mom. I'm coming." He said to the lady at the end of the hall with a cute little blonde girl in her arms. "Thanks for telling such a cool story."

The kid then ran down the hall after his mom. Alice couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips or the huge grin that she knew was on her face. She continued down to the nurse's station. When she saw that her mom was not there she asked one of the other nurses where she was. She was quickly directed down the hall to a room that held a girl who looked so sad and lonely that it broke Alice's heart.

"Hey mom, I finished telling the stories like you ask me to. I was wondering if we could go home soon." Alice said from the door way.

"No, I missed the story." The little girl said from her bed. Big tears gathered in her eyes and started to fall.

Alice felt her own eyes water at the sight. The little girl started to sob as if her heart had been broken.

"No. Now I won't have good dreams. I always have scary ones when I miss the stories."

Alice watched as her mother tried to console the crying girl. Nothing seemed to help though. Alice couldn't stand to see the kid so afraid.

"How about I give you a private show then; so you know; you won't have scary dreams." Alice said softly as she walked over to the bed.

* * *

After an hour of stories the little girl had finally fallen asleep. Alice smiled as she watched the little girl breath peacefully.

"Thank you sweetie." Her mother said as she smiled proudly from the chair across the room.

"Yeah well I couldn't let her have nightmares if I knew I could help." Alice said as she got up to stretch.

"You ready to go home…"

"Anna, Marge just got really sick and has to go home we need you to fill in for her." Another nurse said as she helped someone who Alice assumed was Marge out to her car.

"You want me to see if you can sleep in the break room tonight." Her mom asked as she picked up her bag to go change into her uniform.

"No, I'll just walk home. It's not that far." Alice said as she grabbed her coat and headed out the door.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Alice said as walked out.

"Okay I should be home sometime in the early morning."

"Got it. See you later mom." Alice zipped up her coat and ran outside.

Alice did not want to stay in a hospital overnight. It brought up too many bad memories. She had spent too many nights here while her grandfather was sick. Way too many nights. At the end it was really bad, and she did not want to come at all, but she had to. He always seemed to do better if she came to tell him stories. But he still…

"Ah yes sorrow. It is so lovely on a young face." A voice said from somewhere near her.

Alice nearly jumped out of skin and then she slid in a patch of ice that she had just walked past a second ago.

"Who's there?" Alice asked

After a few minutes without a response Alice got up off the ground. Great just one day back with these stupid stories and she was already hearing things. That's why she stopped writing; her imagination was just too vivid, and she always ended up scaring herself. That's why she put this stupid book away. She stared at the book in her hands.

"When I get home I'm going to hide you somewhere where my mom will never find you." She told it. "Great now I'm talking to inanimate objects. Thank you so very much mom."

She started to continue walking when she thought she saw a shadow out of the corner of eye. So she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Alice, yes I do remember you. You always had such vivid nightmares. But what else is to be expected; I mean people like you always have such wonderful nightmares."

That voice. Why now after three years did she hear that voice; again.

"I'm so flattered it seems that you remember me as well."

She had to get home now. It was getting dark she did not want to be out here in the dark with that voice. It would only be worse in the dark. Alice took off in a sprint. As she did the voice started to laugh. She felt sick as she realized the she was scared of something she could not see; something she wasn't even sure was there.

"Oh I am here Alice. I do believe that you are the reason that I was denied what would have been a lovely nightmare."

Suddenly there was a dark mass in front of her. She stopped just before she would have collided with it. He stepped out then. He looked just as he had when she was a child. He haunted her dreams and she would always run to her grandfather to stave off the nightmares.

"But grandfather is not here now; is he Alice? He left you all alone just like everyone else. Just like your mother has done all of your life; just like she is doing right now. Everyone else's children are more important to her than her one and only child."

Alice's heart began to race as that old fear was brought up again. She knew it was not true. She knew her mother loved her, but there would always be that little bit of resentment in her heart because of all the times she was left alone while her mom cared for someone else's child.

"Yes Alice feel the fear. Because you took away my nightmare I'll just have to get one from you." He took a step toward her.

Alice took a step back, but she could go nowhere. She was surrounded by darkness. She felt tears gather in her eyes. Her mother had no idea what she had done. She would never know; because Alice would never tell her. She would never tell anyone why she was so afraid. She would never say why she was one of the boogeyman's favorite victims.

"Now Alice, I do believe you are a little old to call me the boogeyman. I think you should call me Pitch. Pitch Black; ironic isn't it. You remember don't you? That is after all how all your nightmares ended; in darkness."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two Then she saw him

Darkness, yes she remembered that. Darkness, overbearing and oppressive stealing every breath in her body; killing every nice thought in her head; it even took the bad and scary thoughts. Leaving her as an empty shell; that's what scared her most that overwhelming sense of nothing.

"Yes Alice, feel your fear. Wonderful, unique; yes it started when you were four. Why Alice? Remember, why do you fear being empty?"

Alice shook her head. She didn't want to remember. Why was this happening; to her. She looked around wanting a way out, but all she saw was sand; black sand. She clutched her arms to her chest, but felt something else there. She looked down and saw the book. The book she hated as much as she loved. It was a gift from her grandfather. That thought succeeded in causing the tears that had been gathering in her eyes to fall. Alice hugged the book tighter. She leaned back against the tree that had trapped her in the first place; then she slid down to her butt. She was so tiered she could not stand any more. She sat the book in her lap then laid her head on top of knees. She hugged her legs closer to her body, and continued to cry.

"Beautiful." Pitch said almost in awe.

Alice didn't want to know what he saw. She just wanted to be home in her bed, and for this to not happen. Then the strangest thing happened. She suddenly wasn't so tiered any more. She looked up slightly she wasn't surrounded by swirling dark sand anymore. It was frozen black sand.

"What on earth?" Alice forced herself off the ground.

Why was there so much of it? So much darkness, was this really necessary to torment one teenage girl, or did this come from her? She didn't think about it too long; because something wet and cold suddenly plopped down on her head. She shivered and shook it off her head. Then she looked up. Was it snowing? Yes, it was, and quite a lot to. Where did this come from it wasn't supposed to start snowing until the weekend. That was still five days away. She heard fighting on the other side frozen sand, but she couldn't see anything past it. Who would be crazy enough to fight the boogeyman?

"Jack watch out!"

"Jamie get out of here!"

"Jamie?" The little voice; that was the boy at the hospital. But who was Jack?

Something landed on her nose and made her sneeze. It clicked then. Jack Frost, who else could freeze this sand but Jack Frost. Her heart began to pound it was him he was real. She laughed in excitement, but it was short lived.

"Jamie!" Jack shouted in a panic.

Alice heard the whimper of a kid right in front of her. He must be on the other side of this stupid sand. She had to get out, the kid needed help. She looked around for something she could use to break through the frozen sand, but all she had was herself; fine she could work with that. She tapped on the frozen sand and it cracked a little. This shouldn't be too hard.

"Jamie I need you step away from this stuff." Alice called from inside the black sand.

"Who said that?"Jamie said sounding scared.

"Don't be scared Jamie, it's me, you know the girl who told the stories at the hospital."

"Why are you in there?"

"Why are you out here kid?" she retorted

"I saw the snow and came to see Jack."

"Okay, well I'm coming out of here so you might want to stand back."

Hoping that the kid had listened Alice charged the ice and sand, and fell through rather easily; also rather ungracefully. After she spit out the snow and dirt that ended up in her mouth as she ended up on the ground she looked up and came face to face with…

"A horse; really?"

Okay it was the freakiest horse she had seen in her entire life. She stood up slowly trying her best to not spook it, but its attention seemed to be focused on something behind her. She turned her head and saw that the kid was still there. The horse leaped over her and went after the boy. She wasn't having any of that. Alice jumped up and headed the thing off before it could get to the kid. Then using the only thing available to her at the time; which would be that stupid book; she hit it as hard as she could. Much to her surprise it started to glow and then it was gone.

"Okay book, maybe you're not as stupid as I thought." She whispered then turned to the boy.

"Jamie get out of here." She said quickly.

"But Jack…"

"He'll be fine. I'm going help him." Alice said gently to the boy.

He nodded reluctantly and ran off toward his house. Alice knew this was her problem anyway. Once Pitch had her he should leave Jack Frost alone. Before she could figure out how exactly to test her theory she saw that Jack had fallen to the ground and Pitch was going in for the kill.

"NO!" she screamed as she ran toward Jack.

Before she could reach him Pitch grabbed her and pulled her to him. Pain ripped through her middle she looked down to see a dagger made of that weird black sand in her stomach. She gasped as he twisted it then pulled it from her body.

"This really was much more complicated than it needed to be." Pitch said sounding bored now that his goal was accomplished.

He then tossed her away. Before she could hit the ground cold arm were quickly around her. Alice looked up into the most amazing blue eyes she had ever seen. They were even prettier than she had always thought they would be. But they weren't full of that playful light she always thought they would have. They were worried and she could feel the tension coming off his body. She reached up to touch his face and frowned.

"This isn't right." She whispered

"What isn't right?" he asked confused.

"Jack Frost is supposed to smile." Then her world turned black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Cold feels Warmth

Jack stared into eyes that were a beautiful shade of turquoise, extremely gentle and kind. They radiated warmth and comfort even though the girl that they belonged to was clearly in pain. All he could do was stare into them; and wonder what he needed to do.

"This isn't right." She said quietly as she reached out and touched his face.

It shook Jack out of his momentary stupor.

"What isn't right?"

The girl smiled absently.

"Jack Frost is supposed to smile."

Her eyes were suddenly dazed. Then they closed and she went limp in his arms. Her hand started to slide away from his face, but he quickly grabbed it to hold it in place. She had seen him. He was shocked. The hand he was hold did not pass through his face, but it was put there purposefully.

"Jack?"

He was torn from his shock by a voice that was scared and confused.

"Jack are you okay?"

"She saw me." he said as he shook his head to clear it.

"Really? That's cool…"

The girl in his arms gasped and started to mumble. Jack looked down at the girl her face made it appear like she was afraid of something. She turned in his arms and clutched his shirt and buried her face in his in shoulder.

"Is she okay?" Jamie asked.

Jack looked at the girl and saw darkness start to spread over her body. This could not be good. He could not take her to a hospital he doubted they would be able help her anyway.

"Jamie let's get you home then I'm going to take her to North; try to figure out what we can do to help her."

The boy nodded and Jack walked him over to his house, and then called for the wind to take him to the pole. As he traveled with the girl he noticed strange things occurring with her. He expected for her to be having nightmares and maybe start thrashing about, but she was growing more still and quiet, but her heart was pounding wildly. This was definitely not good.

"Why was Pitch here?" he looked down at the still form in his arms. "What did he want with you?"

How can she see me? He thought as he looked at her. He looked at her a little more closely as the wind carried them to the other guardians. She had to be at least 16. She had a delicate face and it was framed perfectly by long dark hair. She had a petite wispy frame and was just little shorter than he was. But there was something else; something he could not place. He did not think about it long; because the pole was coming into view.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four: Nightmare

Nothing

Floating in nothing

Feeling nothing

Hearing nothing

Seeing nothing

Alone, Empty, Why?

Can't Move

I'm scared

Help me please

Please, I hate this

Please, make it stop

I don't want to be like this

I'm not him

I don't want to be him

I want to scream, but I can't

I want to move, but I can't

I want to feel, but I can't

Tears like falling snow.

No,snow falls like tears.

Not mine

Who?

A boy

Who?

Jack?

Yes, Jack

Jack Frost

I saw him?

When?

Today

Why? Where?

A fight

A nightmare

I'm in a nightmare.

Pitch Black

I'm in the darkness again.

He won't leave me alone.

I'm numb.

No my arms are tingling.

I'm cold.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: Meeting at the workshop.

Jack had just flown in to North's workshop when he heard the girl in his arms say something.

"What did you say?"He asked

The girl blinked a couple of times and looked around in a daze. Then her gaze stopped when she reached his face. Her eyes were still dazed for a moment and she frowned. Then he could see recognition light her eyes. She removed one arm from around his neck and hesitantly moved a hand as if she were going to touch his cheek. Afraid of scaring her if he moved, he remained perfectly still. Her hand paused just at his cheek. She seemed to be thinking about something. He watched as a few emotions played across her face. She looked at his eyes for a moment then she gently put her hand on his cheek. Her eyes sparkled and a laugh of what he could only describe as pure joy escaped her lips. It was such a lovely sound all he could do was smile. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close.

"I knew it." She continued to laugh. She pushed back on his shoulders and looked in his eyes again. "I knew you were a real person."

She suddenly gasped and doubled over in his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked worried.

She shook her head.

"I don't feel well."

"What kind of don't feel well?" he asked in concern.

She started gagging, and Jack took off to the closest bathroom. He nearly knocked over North and a couple of yetis.

"Jack what is big hurry?"

Upon receiving no answer North followed after Jack. When he arrived to the bathroom he raised his bushy eyebrows at the sight he saw. A girl was gagging over the toilet and Jack was rubbing her back and talking quietly in her ear as he held her hair away from her face.

"Jack who is this?" North asked the younger guardian.

But when Jack looked up at him the expression on his face caused North to change questions.

"What is wrong?"North asked

The girl over the toilet had stopped gagging, but started to tremble almost violently. She was also sweating profusely.

"It's black." She crocked out as she put a hand on her throat.

"What?" North asked confused by what was happening.

Before the girl could answer she started to cough and Jack started to pat her on the back.

"Black sand." Jack said. The girl started to gag again and quickly bent over the toilet.

"North, she's throwing up black sand." Jack said his voice full of concern.

North walked over and reluctantly looked into the toilet and sure enough it was full of black sand. He touched the girls back once she could sit up again.

"How do you feel?" he asked. She looked up at him with dazed eyes.

"Too hot." She said quietly.

Jack put a hand out to feel her forehead. Sure enough she was running a fever. She leaned against him and pulled his arms around her the laid her head on his shoulder.

"That feels better. Do you mind if I stay here a while?" She asked hoarsely.

"That's fine with me." Jack answered as he held her a little tighter.

"What is your name?" North asked, and when the girl did not answer he looked to Jack; who just shrugged. The movement caused the girl to stir.

"What?"She asked sounding dazed.

"Name?" Jack asked.

"Oh right, Alice. My name is Alice." She said quietly.

"Last Name?" North asked. No answer. "Alice?" he asked again.

"I think she fell asleep." Jack replied

"Bring her to the infirmary. What happened to her Jack?" North said as he helped Jack to stand with the girl sleeping fitfully in his arms.

"Long story, but suffice it to say Pitch was involved." Jack replied as he adjusted his arms so Alice would be more comfortable.

"Already?" North sighed and shook his head. "I will call others." He then started out of the room.

"Hey, North." Jack called.

"What?"

"Do you think Sandy might be able to help her?" Jack asked as he looked down at Alice.

"We will have to wait and see, hopefully we will be able to figure out why he wanted girl in first place." North said as he stroked his beard.

"I think Jamie knows her; maybe I should go see if he may know why pitch went after her." Jack suggested as they walked down the hall.

"Yes that might be good idea, but let us wait and see what other guardians think."

Jack nodded as they went separate ways. Jack watched the girl as he walked down the hall. Just as earlier when Alice had a passed out on him she became more and more still by the second. This seriously worried Jack. When he had seen people have nightmares in the past they would move around or mumble. At the very least you could see worry on the face of the dreamer, but not her. He wouldn't say her face looked peaceful though. It was completely blank as if she felt nothing. It was a stark contrast to the joyful look he had seen on her face earlier.

"Joy because you saw me." He said to sleeping girl in his arms.

"You have no idea how great that felt Alice." He continued as he reached the infirmary.

"I wish you were awake, so we could talk. I think we are going to be great friends." He told her as he placed her on a bed.

"I protect my friends Alice, so don't worry I will find out what Pitch did to you." He whispered as looked at her emotionless face.

As soon as he sat her down he noticed how much she was sweating now that he was no longer holding her. He moved to take her jacket off hoping that maybe that would make her more comfortable. Once he unzipped it to her middle he noticed the rip there, and mentally face palmed as he remembered Pitch had stabbed her. He quickly removed her Jacket and found she had lost more blood than he was comfortable with. He looked at her jacket an realized how thick the thing was, blood was just starting to show on the surface of it, no wonder he had not noticed she was bleeding earlier.

"Phil!" Jack called, and the yeti looked around the corner almost instantly.

"Go get North." Jack called quickly. He had looked at Alice and realized she was still bleeding.

The yeti nodded and quickly left, but did not go far because North was already coming down the hall. Seeing the look of concern on the yeti's face North did not need to be told something was wrong with the girl. He quickly ran down the hall to find Jack looking for something in the infirmary. He looked up and saw North come in.

"Help her North I can't touch the open wound without making it worse." He said in a voice on the edge of panic.

North walked over to the girl and saw that she had lost some blood, but not a whole lot yet, at least that's what he thought until he noted all the blood that her jacket had absorbed. He picked it up and held it out to the yeti he could feel come up behind him.

"Clean and fix please." The yeti nodded and put it over his arm.

Something thumped onto the ground, but before anyone could see what made the noise Tooth came flying quickly into the room.

"I saw the lights, North what's wrong?" She gasped when she saw the human girl on the bed. "What happened to her?"

Tooth saw the blood and immediately started flying around the room grabbing the things she was going to need. Then as she reached for the hem of the girl's shirt she looked at Jack.

"Out." She ordered

"What?" Jack questioned

"Out, all of you get out now. Give the girl enough respect to allow her some privacy."

Jack's face turned red as he realized what Tooth was talking about and he quickly walked out of the room followed by North and Phil.

"North, him to."

North stuck his head in the room and saw that tooth was pointing to an elf that was sitting on the floor completely engrossed in a book. North came in and picked up the elf that seemed to take very little notice to him and walked out of the room leaving Tooth to take care of Alice.

* * *

Bunny and Sandy arrived at the workshop at the same time and were surprised to find the room where they would usually meet empty. Sandy had a question mark made of sand above his, and Bunny shrugged not knowing what was going on either. It was then that they heard voices of Jack and North coming from down the hall.

"Do you think she's going to be all right?" Jack said as he entered the room.

"I think she will be." North said reassuringly as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She, Tooth alright, North?" Bunny asked.

"Tooth is fine."

"Alice is the one who's hurt." Jack said sounding miserable.

"Are you blaming yourself Jack?" North asked.

"I was there North I should have be able to stop him from hurting her."

"Hold on mate, what's going on." Bunny asked

"Pitch attacked a girl today." North said.

"He's back already." Bunny stated quietly.

"Yes, and we need to figure out why he went after her so aggressively." Jack said

Sandy had a question mark above his head, and Jack knew the little man wanted to know what he meant.

"I have never seen so much black sand to torment one teenage girl, and he ended up stabbing her with something. I couldn't see what it was though."

"Teenager? Did she see what was going on?" Bunny asked.

"She could see the sand, she could see Pitch, and she saw me." Jack said.

They could see the slight smile that he held when he said that the girl had seen him. While Jack now had some believers; it was still something he was getting to used to. Add to that the fact the girl was a teenager made her seeing him all the more strange.

"And you say you don't know why..what?" Bunny looked down as an elf ran into him.

Bunny saw him reading something as he walked he seemed completely entranced by it. Bunny quickly snatched it away and looked through the book in shock.

"Well I think I can answer your questions, mate." Bunny said as he held the book in his hands up.

"You have all the luck frostbite." He added with a chuckle


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six: Guardian and the Storyteller

Jack cocked his head to the side at Bunny's comment. While at the moment his life was actually pretty great, but he would most definitely not agree with the having all the luck statement.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked cautiously.

"You've got yourself a storyteller, mate." Bunny said with a casual shrug.

"Really?" North said excitedly as he rushed over to Bunny and took the book from him.

"Must have long family line of storytellers." North mused to himself as he looked at the book, and the quality of the story telling.

"And so young when it was started." North said clearly growing more excited.

"Yep look at the message in the front. Shelia's been telling stories longer than she's been writing them down." Bunny said from over North's shoulder, and at that North eagerly turned to the first page of the book.

_Happy Ninth birthday my little fantasy weaver. I've been writing down all your little stories for you since you started telling them to me when you were four. Now I think you can keep up with them for yourself, but don't think that means you can get away with not telling them to me anymore; I fully expect to hear from you whenever you finish one. I love you gobs and bunches, and I'm very proud of what you've accomplished; your father would be proud as well._

_Forever your biggest fan,_

_Grandpa_

North smiled as he read the heartfelt message. He noted the date of her birthday as he flipped through to the last page that had been written on, and frowned at the date.

"Three years since anything new has been added."

"Did you notice anything else?" Bunny asked

"As in?" North prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"Main subject of discussion?" Bunny said with a grin as he looked over at the clearly confused youngest guardian.

North quickly looked at the headings of each story then let out a hearty laugh and looked over a Jack as well. Unable to stand the suspense any longer Jack took the book from North to have a look at what the others seemed to be so amazed by. As he read the heading of the page North was looking at his mouth fell open.

"This story is about me." He sounded astonished.

Bunny and North chuckled at look on his face. He continued reading choosing to ignore them, but as he read he noticed how familiar these stories were. It was not until he noticed one particular story that made him wince that he realized why they were familiar.

"These stories really are about me. I remember these events. I remember this day." He said quietly

"Jack are you alright?" North asked sounding concerned.

"These things are written from the perspective of someone witnessing them. She saw these things. She saw me when she was four; could have been younger than that. I've not been as alone as I thought." He said mostly to himself.

She was a very perceptive four year old. He thought as he read some of the words she used to describe him. Lonely, sad, and she was talking about a snowball fight he had started whilst using those words. He could see that she had gone back and titled some of the stories after she was given the book. He looked at the title of the story that had made him wince. _Snow falls like tears._

"That was a bad day." He said quietly.

"What happened?" Bunny asked cautiously

"I'm not going to talk about it until I talk to Alice about it." Jack said in a voice that effectively put a stop to any questions about the topic.

"Why is this so… how does she know…what is this all about…" Jack wasn't really sure what he was trying to ask the older guardians.

"She is storyteller." North stated simply as if that should explain everything to Jack.

"Your storyteller to be more specific." Bunny added thinking his explanation was equally as clear. Yeah that was as clear as mud to Jack.

"And?" he asked.

"Well, a storyteller comes about to help strengthen the ankle biter's belief in us. " Bunny said after a moment of thinking.

"Yes is true, Jack. It looks like Manny has decided it was time you had a storyteller of your own. Been working with her for a while from what we see with the dates on the stories."

"Manny? You mean that she was chosen by the man in the moon to write stories about me." Jack asked in quiet astonishment.

"He did the same with all of us guardians, mate." Bunny said smiling happily as he recalled his own storyteller.

"How else do you think word about us gets around? Someone has to start the stories after all." North told him.

"Sandy is this true? Sandy?" Jack looked over to where the golden guardian of dreams had been when this conversation had started.

"Must have gone to check on girl." North said.

"I think I'd like to meet Alice myself." Bunny said as he walked down the hall.

They were definitely not expecting to walk into the middle of the Alice wigging out and trying to get away from something that they could not see at first . Nor were they expecting to see darkness trying to trap said girl. Jack would have started to yell for Pitch to leave the girl alone if it had not been ridiculously obvious that this was not his handy work. Especially obvious after the darkness shot away from the girl and formed into a distinctly feminine shadow before shooting out the window before the guardians could even move. Yeah this was definitely not what Jack was expecting to walk into the room and see.

"Okay what just happened?" Jack asked as he walked into the room.

Sandy held up a figure indicating that he wanted Jack to give him a moment. Jack nodded as Sandy then floated over to Alice who was backed up against the wall looking like she was on the edge of having a panic attack. Jack walked around Bunny and North to follow behind Sandy. Sandy started to make various images above his head and Alice just looked at him in a confused and skittish way trying to back further away from Sandy.

"He wants you to know that he is going to make you sleep, so you can recover from your injury faster."Jack translated as he kneeled beside her. Everyone in the room could not help but notice how his presence calmed her down instantly.

"No. Jack I'm fine now. I don't want to go to sleep right now. Trust me when I say that it would be a bad idea. She'll just come back." Alice said. Jack was surprised by how calm she was now.

"Who was she?" Jack asked.

"She was… um … well… I don't remember. But I do know that I don't like her and she does not like me." Alice told him.

"Okay. Does she feed on your bad dreams?" Jack asked trying to piece together what was going on.

"No. I don't think so. I don't understand what's going on. I feel like I should know what's happening Jack. But I lose the answers every time I think I'm close to figuring it out." She sounded close to tears

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Well for starters I am; for some reason totally beyond me; okay and accepting of the fact that I'm talking to Jack Frost and The Sand Man. Add to that The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa Clause are standing behind you and I'm not at all surprised or concerned that this is happening. In fact I almost feel like I've been waiting on this to happen; expected it even. But I have no idea why it is I feel this way." She now sounded very frustrated.

"I don't know what's going on either Alice, but we'll help you figure it out." Jack said as he helped her off the ground.

He led her back to the bed motioned for her lie down. The momentary fear in her eyes very nearly broke Jack's heat. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"Alice, Sandy will make sure that you do not have any bad dreams." Jack said.

Then Sandy sat down next to her a nodded adamantly.

"Are you sure about that?" Alice asked not sure she could take another bout of nothingness. Twice in one day was two times too many to have that dream in her book. She looked to Sandy who nodded again.

"But what if that thing comes back while I'm asleep?" Alice asked

"Don't worry about it we'll make sure that you stay safe Alice." Jack said and those around him nodded in agreement.

"Will you still be here when I wake up?" Alice asked.

Jack was momentarily taken aback by her question, but nodded in the affirmative.

"Yeah. I'll still be here." He assured her.

"Fine then Sandy can make me sleep, but when I wake up I want to talk to you. After all it's not every day you get the chance to talk to you childhood hero." Alice said with a yawn. She smiled at him "Talk to you later Jack Frost." And with that Sandy knocked the girl out.

All Jack could do for a couple of seconds was to sit next to her and smile. Then he noticed the bandage around her abdomen and got angry. He may not know what the deal was with the shadow girl, but he did know who was responsible for her stomach wound.

"I think we need to find Pitch and have a good long talk with him." Jack said casually managing to sound a lot calmer than he actually felt.

Now that he knew what this girl could possibly be to him he was not going to let anyone mess with his storyteller.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven: Of Nightmares and Treachery

"Yes I agree Jack we should definitely talk to Pitch, but first can someone tell me exactly what on earth is going on." Tooth said with an exasperated breath.

"Jack has storyteller." North said excitedly.

"Really Jack! Oh my gosh that is so wonderful." Tooth said as flew to Jack and drew him into an excited hug.

"Yep, I've been told that having a storyteller is great already." Jack said with a playful eye roll. "But at the moment I'm worried about her. What happened before we came in?" Jack added as he instantly turned serious.

"Well I had just finished bandaging her stomach wound and putting a clean shirt on her when Sandy walked in."

Jack looked at Sandy.

"Then he showed me images of Pitch, sand, and the girl. I figured that he wanted to see if he she had any dark sand present on her or in her system."

Jack looked over at Sandy again, who nodded in agreement.

"So I stepped back to let him check the girl..."

"Alice." Jack interrupted

"What?" Tooth asked confused.

"Her name is Alice." Jack said as he pointed to the sleeping figure behind her.

"Oh. Alice is a lovely name. Anyway I moved so Sandy could check on Alice, but before he could touch her she was incased in a black shadow…"

* * *

**Flashback: Following Sandy.**

_Sandy walked over to the sleeping girl. He was happy that Jack had finally received a storyteller. This would make him getting more believers much easier. But he was also worried about said storyteller. As soon as Jack mentioned the weird dagger that Pitch had used he was worried that Pitch might have managed to get some of his nightmare sand into the girls system. But wanted to see what else Jack had to say about the incident. The possibility of that dark sand getting into anyone was not good, but as soon as he heard Bunny say that the girl was a storyteller Sandy took off. Nightmare sand in a storyteller could be extremely dangerous. Sandy walked in just as Tooth was finishing redressing the girl. He quickly made images about was going on above his head. Thankfully she understood what he wanted and quickly got out of his way. However just as he was getting ready to send his sand out check her; a black shadow incased her. He was both startled and surprised. He was expecting a resistance of black sand. It seemed to one of Pitch's more favorable weapons lately, but this was different. For starters it did not feel like Pitch's work. It was darker. As the girl let a painful gasp her eyes opened, and Sandy could see she was in pain. This thing that was around her was malicious; most definitely out to hurt the girl before him. She jumped up off the bed and started to scream and try get away from the darkness surrounding her. Then Jack walked in with North and Bunny. The shadow remained only for a second after they entered the room. It reformed into the shape of a girl. "Till later, Aly." Only Sandy was close enough to hear this comment before the shadow girl fled_

* * *

"And then you guys came in and know what happened after that." Tooth finished

"So you did not get a chance to deal with the black sand?" Jack asked.

Sandy shook his head sadly.

"Well; I think she may have thrown up most of, but could you check her anyway?" Jack asked quietly.

Sandy nodded to Jack and walked over to Alice and went to place a hand on her forehead, but once again was stopped from touching her, and this time was thrown back away from Alice.

"Now Sandman I can't allow you to do that I'm afraid. It took much too long to convince Pitch to use that dagger on her. I can't have you ruining all that work." A sweet voice came from behind Jack.

Jack jumped in surprise and turned to face the girl behind him. What he saw left him utterly confused. He could feel darkness coming from the girl, but she looked like an angel. Her hair was the same color as Alice's; dark chocolate; she was tall and thin. Her face was heart shaped and she wore a pink flowing gown. She did not look like the evil he was feeling could possibly be coming from her. At least that was what he thought until he saw her eyes. They were a similar color to Alice's eyes; looking into Alice's eyes Jack felt warmth and compassion, but this girl's eyes could rival any type of cold Jack could bring to the world, those eyes were hard and just plain old mean. And when she looked over at Alice he could see hatred and contempt in those horrible cold eyes. He had the overwhelming desire to put himself between Alice and this dark figure, so he did. The girl smirked at him.

"Oh please. If I feel like hurting Aly you are not going to be able to stop me Frost." Alice had been right whoever this girl was she did not like her. The venom that laced her voice when she referred to Alice made that fact very clear.

"How do you know Alice?" Jack asked.

"I would think even you could notice the resemblance between the two of us. We are cousins. In fact I am her only living relative." The girl said as she walked into the room.

"You're lying. I saw her with her mom earlier today." Jack said coldly. Jack could not stand liars.

"No nitwit. I'm not lying. Anna is not Alice's mom; well not in the biological sense anyway." She said with a sneer.

Jack just stood there dumbfounded.

"Alice's mom got knocked up with her when she was sixteen, but there were complications during the birth and needless to say she did not survive. Alice's farther was also sixteen at the time. But when Alice was four he took his own life. You remember that day don't you Jackie. Anna was his girlfriend at the time and for some reason beyond me she loved the little brat and wanted to adopt her. Alice's grandfather agreed because that had been the plan to begin with. You know after the 20 something's got married. Then three years ago her grandfather died." She had a satisfied smirk on her face the entire time she spoke.

Jack's stomach rolled as he realized why she was so happy.

"You caused all that?" Tooth asked the question Jack was thinking.

"Yep." The girl said casually. "You know I think Alice has tried to suppress all of this information. I need her to remember all of this, and some other things, so I can't allow Sandy to remove the Sand yet." She added.

Alice gasped and grabbed her head. Jack was quickly by her side. Sandy tried to get to Alice as well, but he was quickly pushed back away again.

"Who are you?" Bunny asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I already told you I'm her cousin.

"I know that, but I meant your name. I would like to know who I'm fixing to be throwing my boomerangs at." He said sounding annoyed

"Oh fine I'm…..

_**Authors Notes: **_

_**Okay I guess I should do one of these since I'm now all the way to chapter seven, and have yet to do one. So yeah just a couple things I want say, so here it goes.**_

_**To anyone who has been waiting for the next chapter I am extremely sorry for taking so long to update. On top of having a major case of writers block I've had to spend this last week moving. To that I add why do I have so much useless junk?**_

_**Okay wow over 400 views to this story. Have to admit I was not expecting that.**_

_**Thank you so much guys who have reviewed. I was so happy that you guys liked what I've done so far.**_

_**So sorry for the cliffhanger, but I have a reason I promise I did not do it just to be mean. I could not think of a name for the bad guy. Once I figure out a name I'll post the next chapter. I am open to suggestions if anyone has any.**_

_**I would love it ever so much if you let me know what you think of the story. So please review.**_

_**Also I am so sorry if Bunny or North do not sound right. I'm having a hard time writing out the accents.**_

_**Okay that was more than a couple of things; I guess. I'll try to update at least once a week. (hopefully more than once a week.) I pretty much know where the story is going, so it should not be too hard; right? I don't know how many chapters it is going to be. I guess it'll depend on how long you guys are interested in reading it. Thanks for reading the story and these author's notes. **_

_**- Light's-Embrace**_


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